Need some tips for your beautiful long hair?

I have very long hair, maybe a little more than 50 cm long. There are some tips I would like to share with you if you´re looking for shinny, strong and healthy hair. Of course, everything starts with diet, for that, you might want to have a look in my very own section of Kitchen, with healthy recipes and tips that will help your body stimulate and regulate your internal flows.

But secondly, everything depends on you and how you´re treating yourself, how much care you take of all the details and the way you do it.

Let´s start with the list of tips!

° Getting ready for the shower: Brush your hair gently before getting into the shower, never brush it while it´s wet before washing. It will tangle.

° Washing: DO NOT be a hygiene freak when comes to this. Yes, it´s pleasant when your hair smells fruity every single day but it´s not healthy. Do not wash your hair daily, you might irritate your scalp and get rid of the essential oils. The lack of these it´s going to make your hair look and feel dry and lifeless. This is very challenging when you´re one of those people using tons of hair products, oils, hairsprays, etc...cut down on those and give your hair a break from washing (take a shower but do not wash your hair, of course). If your life depends on those other tons of products and you just cannot cut down on those, then you might just rinse your hair everyday with water and few drops of your favorite conditioner.

Personally, I wash my hair every 3 days, it manages to stay clean for those 3 days and then I wash it. It feels good and healthy, and smells quite nice until the very third day! 

° Drying: DO NOT dry your hair by rubbing it into a towel, you might want to use a T-shirt, which is a nice smooth and plain material rather than a normal/regular cotton towel. Why? Towels will make your hair turn dry, turning it into dull, frizzy hair pretty easy to break.

What I do is make a pony tail everytime I get out of the shower. I might squeeze it into a soft towel or T-shirt and I try to take all the water out of it by shaking the ends out. Easy as that.

Going straight to the heating part, right? Time to use your dear hairdryer...well...if you are going to use it then you better use heat protection, but, if it´s convenient you could skip adding this extra chemical to your hair by using a warm heat rather than hot, so no need of heat protection. This would require more time for shaking out the hair before drying and trying to get as much water as you can out of it.

° Brushing: DO NOT brush only the ends. Yes that´s such a widely spread bad tip. By brushing the ends only you will completely abandon all these nutritious natural oils that are originated from your roots. Brush completely from your roots to the end using a good comb adapted to your hair type.

° Curling, ironing, etc: You might do it, but just AFTER your hair is dry. As much as they comment on the packaging of these products you just got, that you might also use it on wet hair, no no. Wet hair and hot ironing/curling would just do very bad for your hair. 

° Split ends?: NO product will help regenerate your split ends. There is no such a thing, no invention in the beauty industry that has been successful with this, hence, don´t waste your money in all these oils, special shampoos, etc. If you want to put an end to your split ends (how dramatic this sounds), just trim it 1-2 cms. That simple. Or, you might want to minimize the visible split ends, then you´re ok using a serum oil or something similar.

Easy right? Did you know any of these? Are you following them? Any results so far?

Dinner time!

Today someone was craving for some meat for dinner (and it wasn´t me!). Here´s the result!

° Sweet potato slices (with olive oil, paprika, French potato spice - yes, it fits!)

° Spinach salad with feta cheese and herbs, apple and a little vinegar

° Fresh OJ

This beautiful Ted Baker bag is ...now mine!

So, since I was completely lost between the pink and the black one, draw a list of positive and negative point, I was browsing through ASOS and I found this beauty!!! Now I need to save up some money and stop going crazy with the shopping but that´s it! This beauty is mine now and I am so going to rock it this spring in Vienna! Cannot wait!!!

What do you think? Do you like it?! Run to ASOS website and enjoy some crazy sales yourself!!! Comment below if you´re getting something!

Early Spring Favorites

Hey dear ones! Have you been shopping lately? There are great discounts all over Internet, as well as stores in your town! Ever tried to 'recycle' products or trends? - Well, in this post today I will try to show you in a quick collage my all-time favorites for an early spring. I am actually grabbing ideas for my own style and I came up with this mix of products I do absolutely love, though I do not own all of them, but some day...some day they will be mine, haha!

What are you all-time favorites? What's what you most use during springtime? Comment below!

Evening Yummers

My Sunday morning

Fitness Tip: Get rid of the stress with this meal plan!

MORNING

- Breakfast: Plain oatmeal with almonds, dried cranberries and a splash of DHA-fortified low-fat milk. Drink 240 ml glass of Tropicana Healthy Heart with Omega-3 orange juice (or any orange juice you find in your market with Omega-3).

- Snack: Pistachios to satisfy sweet, salty and nutty cravings.

AFTERNOON

- Lunch: Own made BLT toast (bacon, lettuce and tomato) with whole wheat bread and stack on about a cup of spinach leaves, a strip or two of crispy turkey bacon and tomato slices. Drink an iced OJ spritzer (half orange juice, half sparkling mineral water).

- Snack: A low fat whole wheat waffle topped with a tablespoon of almond butter. Yummy!

EVENING

- Dinner: Grilled salmon topped with avocado-tomato salsa on a bed of fresh spinach.

- Snack: Dark chocolate with blueberries and a low fat milk.

Easy, right? This proves that eating the right food is going to calm down your nerves to relax you. 

What's what these foods have that helps us? - Vitamin E and Vitamin B (pistachios, almonds and walnuts), Avocado for lower blood pressure, skim milk for combating insomnia reduce muscle spasms and keep tension under control, oatmeal and dark chocolate for more serotonin, oranges for Vitamin C, salmon for the enemy of stress, Omega-3 and spinach for it's delicious magnesium to lower stress levels and deal with migraine and headaches!

Go and give it a try tomorrow!

Have you ever wondered where to get these?

Yes, you´re not the only one. After some research I found this amazingly cute online store, that is actually originally from UK (and they do have opened shops in there) selling all kinds of cute items with very girly and sweet patterns. Lately has been a trend among bloggers, Instagram users, etc. to post pictures of items with roses patterns, well, there are a bunch of stores in UK with this kind of theme. 

These items are from Cath Kidston but there are many other similar designers/shops selling similar products. IKEA has been selling several kitchen and bedroom items with cute patterns too, though unfortunately they´re not available in stock anymore. 

Cath Kidston to me it´s a little bit too overrated...and prices are way too high, but as I´ve said, with a little research you will get to find way more affordable similar products!

Want some references? Comment below and let me know!

Relax

Some make-up supplies I got yesterday!

Fitness Recipe: Tuna Boats

This recipe will make you change your style of snacking, from chips and sweets to a way better choice!

PER SERVING: 30 calories, 4g protein, 1g carbohydrates, 1g fat (0,5 saturated), 24 mg cholesterol, 0g fiber, 129 mg sodium.

° 1 can tuna in water, drained

° 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped

° 1 tablespoon fine chopped red onion

° 1 tablespoon fine chopped celery

° 2 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise (you can make your own at home, less fatty)

° 1/4 teaspoon salt

° some ground black pepper

° 1 head Belgian endive

INSTRUCTIONS: Take a bowl and mix tuna with the egg, chopped red onion, celery, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Wash and separate the endive leaves and arrange them as you wish on a plate. Fill each leaf with some of the tuna salad you´ve just prepared.

I personally recommend personalize these little boats as you please, I used shrimps as well. In the picture you can see another combination, tuna and salsa boats. Enjoy!

New items for my wardrobe

Travel Experience: Greece (Rhodes)

The night we arrived to Greece (Rhodes), was one of those nights you will always remember with sweet nostalgia. We left Helsinki on 5th August evening and arrived Rhodes on 6th ''morning'' or night, early morning or as you want to call it. Of course my photo sessions started with some crappy mobile phone pictures of Turkey by the time we were flying over Turkey and as we were approaching Rhodes island we were getting really excited and impatient (at least me).

We arrived. We got out of the plane so a bus was waiting for us to drive us from the plane to the airport building. It was hot, it was damn hot that night. Very humid. We made it to the building. Very humble and small airport with basics.

As it was pretty late already we were thinking we could stay over at night in the airport and try to sleep a little since our check in was pretty late in the morning (12pm). But oh no, one of those women with high dance heels made sure we wouldn't stay there and basically kicked everyone out of the 'lounge'. I was so sleepy I couldn't even think straight but I was telling Eki we could look for a hotel for that night until the next morning, I tried to check in booking.com some hotels and found one, so we agreed on taking a taxi to Faliraki already and just go to one hotel and ask for a room.

We got out of the airport and approached to a taxi (pretty scary looking taxi men out there), asked for the price for Faliraki and got an answer of 21€ if I remember well...for less than 20 km. Well, you got to agree on such a situation, not much to be done. We got it, suddenly typical Greek music started to play in the car which by the way was one of those black Mercedes Compressor, pretty fancy looking got to say.

The taxi left us by the hotel we told the guy to. The road was all dust. They told us there were no rooms available at the hotel. So what? Beach is waiting us even if it's patch dark outside.

With the trolley bag, walking for 3 hours to find the beach (it was very dark and bad signs) walking on the road basically. After some time we finally made it to the beach.

The beach had pretty sandy and clean sand as I could've felt (but not see). We looked at the sky. Amazing...full of stars. We got 2 seats by the shore. It couldn't be more perfect. It was truly amazing. Just resting there, looking at the stars, counting the falling stars and hearing the waves breaking at our feet. That was the second best experience in Greece. It was already about 6am and we heard some dogs lurking around, a bunch of cute dogs were having some good fun in the sand, with no owner. We had no problems, they were friendly and respected the distance. I couldn't sleep at all, I was just all eyes and ears, the landscape was awesome. As we watched the sunrise laying in our seats under the umbrella...the sun lighted up the surroundings. I had a look behind and was all hills!!! The buildings looked in bad shape but hey the beach was amazing and very clean (thing I was not expecting in Greece for some reason).

As the sun was gaining more power, God it got so hot! We left the beach as people were coming and we went in an adventure of finding the apartment. We walked and walked with no idea. No signs (I almost felt like in the desert haha) until we stopped to eat (Greek salad) and drink something and finally decided to take a taxi and just say the name of the hotel. It was impossible finding it with around 40ºC outside in full sun.

Everything else was just OK with few problems with the payment of the apartment. The apartment was modest and for the price, it was enough (though it was a hell at night with no air conditioning - thank God during the day we were outside by the beach in the water because otherwise would've been impossible to stay inside!).

We got to eat at some place, called Jamaica Bar where they were serving quite tasty menus...for 18€ (fancy drinks included). But the last days we had some struggles with cash so we kept it more like gyros.

Three days before leaving we made it to Lindos, a small city at 50 km away from Faliraki. We took a bus from Faliraki (around 2,50€) and we reached Lindos at middle day with a crazy weather of 42ºC, fully sunny and no wind at all. That day I fainted in the bus (or I was about) and I felt so bad as you could imagine. There were no seats on the way back in the bus (it was crazy) and I just got a little space in the stairs of the bus and tried to keep on hanging.

Lindos was all about shops, and the acropolis which we were not able to visit because it was closed (yeah, they close at 14:00 and it was 16:00...) so we just walked around until the bus for the way back came.

The last day has been truly intense, we went to Anthony Quinn Beach to do some snorkelling. We made it there quite in the morning, by taking a taki which has been a rip off. The driver asked for a higher price than usually and he didn't give the change back because he had 'no coins'. So we paid 10€ for a trip of 3-4km. But yes. Anthony Quinn was AMAZING. The very first best experience in Greece this summer.

Of course that due to the salty water I got a huge rash allergy all over my face after snorkelling. But it was worth the experience.

Oh! And we saw a pretty interesting type of fish! Cornetfish! It looked so cool but that's because none of us were nearby it. I bet if that creature was right next to us I would've had a heart attack haha.

After Anthony Quinn, we made it back to the apartment, packed and left to Rhodes city where we walked and walked and been laying on the grass in the Old Town. After that we went to do some last shopping (got a bunch of shells) and I was pretty disappointed on the city I must say. Just likeLindos. I was expecting to get to see something more, something more related to history, but unfortunately everything was just about shops and businesses around with pretty annoying waiters asking you in almost a begging way to come and eat at their place (...). I know Greece is doing bad but they are not going to improve their tourism by harassing the tourists. I haven't seen one single person being pleased about the offers or following them.

After getting a last headache in the shops, we decided to make it to the airport a little earlier than the flight, we took the bus (which was a chaos to find and to get the driver to tell us what stop is the airport - thanks to some nice people also going there we made it good). We hanged around at the 'bar' which was amazingly expensive (a slice of pizza 5€ - by slice I mean a very small slice)...and with almost no cash I decided to go to a machine and get some, so we could eat something...

Finally I felt really released when we reached Finland. Very tired, very hungry and very tanned. But it was worth the experience to get to see some small part of Greece and also got to see how the tourism industry lays and got to say it was all mass tourism at least the place we've been to and unfortunately the places were not as respected as I would've been expecting them to be, but yes, I guess they need to milk the country's past resources as they're not doing that great.

But loved it! Looking forward for some more of it...hopefully next time, Santorini.

Today's inspiration

Fitness Tip: Eat or not before bed?

Well, as many others, I´ve also believed in this silly advice ''No eating after 19:00.'' Is it true? Are you going to gain weight if you eat after 19:00? 

What if you´re coming from work or if you´ve just done your evening workout coming back from the gym starving? We´re just going to sit there and starve, yeah.

Not really. According to Katie Clark, a professor at the University of California (San Francisco, USA), a calorie will always be a calorie no matter when are you going to eat it, though you better keep it light for lunch and keep it lighter as the day comes to an end.

Don´t feel guilty or believe in the silly advice that mainstream websites and books might give you, do not eat after this hour, because body always needs to refuel and an easy way to do that is to keep it lighter, that´s the only secret. Nothing now it´s going to stop you having a yoghurt and nuts at 21:30, seriously.

Just remember that eating too much at night, the digestion process will keep you up during the night affecting your sleeping hours and sleep quality!

Have a great evening everyone! If you liked this post, comment below and make me know! :)

Fitness Recipe: Portobello Sandwich

This sandwich, I promise it´s delicious and guilty-less! It has no meat but you won´t miss it!

PER SERVING: 302 calories, 12 g protein, 39 g carbohydrates, 12 g fat (3 g saturated), 12 mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 650 mg sodium.

° 1 teaspoon olive oil

° 1 onion slice, as thick as you want it to be

° 1/4 red bell pepper cut into thick strips

° 1 medium portobello* mushroom cap

° salt

° 1 slice reduced fat provolone cheese

° 1 teaspoon prepared pesto

° 1 focaccia roll or slice of focaccia bread (split in half)

° 1 lettuce leaf

° 1 slice tomato

*What is portobello mushroom? - It´s simply a mature champignon mushroom.

INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat oven to aprox. 200°C. In a nonstick pan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the onion and bell pepper. Cook, whisking occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until softened (onion goes soft and golden - don´t let it burn!). Put the vegetables aside. Place the mushroom in the pan, top side up. Cook for about 2 minutes. Turn over and cook for another 2 minutes, or until softened.  Season the mushroom cap and veggies lightly with some salt.

Transfer the mushroom to a baking pan or piece of heavy aluminium foil. Top with the onion, pepper and cheese. Bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese on top bubbles.

Meanwhile, spread pesto on both sides of the roll or bread of focaccia. Transfer the mushroom, onion and pepper to the bottom bun. Top with lettuce, tomato, and top bun.

And that´s it! Here´s a picture of how it should look! Remember you can always serve with with some sweet potatoes, or whatever else you would please, as a greek salad, etc.

Starbucks?

Well since I really do not like Starbucks that much, and I do not really understand why people take selfies, tons of picture of their background and cups (to me is like taking picture at McDonald's of your burger tweeting about it)...well here we have some news about Starbucks. Consider twice paying 4,5e for a frappuccino after reading this (also take into account they overrate their products yet they don't pay taxes in some countries).

No need of that!

Are you one of these freaks buying beauty products every week with the excuse of ''This is new, I need to try it!''? Well, I am not an expert in the facial-skin routine but I do can share with you the small little tricks I´ve been using since a teenager and they´ve worked amazing. As a matter of fact, makes me pretty proud of my skin (even though I could improve).

What works for me?

1. After a hot/warm shower and in case you got warm/hot water on your face (bad bad girl!), as soon as you finish your shower, wash your face with cold water. Right after apply your cream. If you´re getting hot/warm water on your face, the warmth will make your skin shrink and dry, that´s why we want to calm it down with some cool water after a shower and quickly apply the cream, so it stays clean, nice and smooth.

2. Washing and scrubbing? Unless you have severe issues, you shouldn´t scrub your face or use any kind of home-made scrub (after all they are all doing the same job), instead of that make sure you do wash it good in the morning and at night without any kind of soap, just water, pure water. Nothing´s going to feel better!

3. Don´t use make up all over your face, try to get a make up color that completely match and blends in with your skin color in such a way that you´re not needed to apply it all over your face, but just the spots you want to cover. And in any case, too much make up never looks good. At least personally I´ve always liked to leave my cheeks ´´naked´´ so my natural blush would stand out without the need of using a blush in a bottle.

4. Always remove make-up before sleeping. Wash or not your face after (a recent study says that probably it´s even better if you´re not washing your face after removing make-up since the moist from the towels/remover hydrates skin over night) that´s your choice having into account the type of skin you have and how many hours you´re able to spend without washing and cleaning off.

5. From time to time, prepare bags of green tea, pop them in the freezer and use them to get rid of the puffiness around the eyes in the morning, or...just because it feels cool!

If you´ve enjoyed these tips, there are more to come in further tips! For any questions, you´re welcome to comment! Good luck!

2014 and a new beginning...

New year, new resolutions, new challenges to attach to, why not starting an all-purpose blog? In the past I have created several blogs and most of the times every blog had a stable purpose, well, the way I want it in 2014 is to be an all-purpose blog. Just like the flour, all-purpose, best flour for the best cakes.

This is going to be a place where I am going to talk about myself, an open diary, a cooking book, a place to share experiences, travels, ideas, critique and also a room to change and open my wardrobe, which is not very big, but yet, I can recycle it quite a bit, fashion as they call it, own style and a cozy place to be and post pictures.

Hopefully everyone is going to enjoy it. You´re welcome to take my hand in this journey and...let´s fly together!